A car dealership owner and his wife have been given police protection after an employee tried to kill them with saliva he purchased from a COVID-19-positive patient.
Ibrahim Unverdi filed a criminal complaint against his employee of three years after he allegedly attempted to infect him with the virus after being caught stealing money.
“On the morning of the incident, I called him about the sale of a car. After I made the sale, I gave him [Turkish lira] 215,000 (£22,000/$30,000) and told him to take the money to the office. He even had the key to my safe, I completely trusted him. Later, I called him multiple times and could not reach him. He answered the next day. He said that he needed the money and stole it because he owed it to a loan shark,” Unverdi explained.
Unverdi also claims that the employee put the saliva of a COVID-19 patient in his drink in an attempt to infect him, but he luckily did not drink it.
“[He] bought saliva from a Covid-19 patient for [Turkish lira] 500 (£50/$70) and tried to mix it into my drink. I learned about this from one of my employees,” Unverdi said.
Unverdi and his wife were given police protection after showing threatening text messages from the employee confirming he tried to kill him with COVID-19.
“I could not kill you with the virus. I will shoot you in the head next time,” reads one of the text messages.
“This is the first time I have heard of such a bizarre killing technique. Thank God I did not become sick. God is always with the good,” Unverdi said.
“I would rather he did kill me rather than trying to infect me with the virus. My mother and father have a chronic illness. If he infected me with Covid-19, I could have in turn infected my family and those around me. At least if he shot me in the head, I would be the only one to die. No need to be so evil,” Unverdi added.
“Thank God the prosecutor’s office gave me protection, and they are now looking for [the employee]. I am sure that a precedent decision will come from the lawsuit I filed,” he said.
“We live face to face with death. It is unclear where this man will come from and what he will do to us. On my behalf, on behalf of my children and my husband, I beg those who hear us, please help us. We do not want to live with this fear of death,” Unverdi’s wife said.